Bristle clamping device



P 1950 c. F. WERKHEISER 2,521,105

BRISTLE CLAMPING DEVICE Filed June 1'7, 1947 Patented Sept. 5, 1950UNITED Es- PAr EN OFFICE.

BRISTIi-EGIEAMPING DEVICE Charles F. .Werkheiser', Burlington, Vt,.assignor toi E. .B..&. A...G.' .Whiting Company, Burlington,"

Vt., a corporation ofVermont Application June-.1 7, 1947, Serial No.755;!)50

fiClaiins. 1-.

This invention .relates to :an: improved. mecha nism for: clampingbristle; animal;hair; varioustypes of fibrous materials,andvmixturesethereofi. While conveying same througha treatment step and;while. not limited thereto; isparticularly adaptable for incorporationin. a machine-ion rials, and mixtures thereof, machines have been.

heretoforeutilized for automatically; subjecting a generally"heterogeneou'slyv disposed; mass. of-

fibrous materials: or: bristles. to a combing;- action:

so. as. to. eiTect the side by side -alignm'entiof such fibers/orbristles. For reference-convenience; such. materials. will be hereaftergenerically, referred: In the machines-7 heretofore to as bristles.known, the; bristles aredisposed; upon .a conveyorrconstituting; apairof spaced flexible chainsi which areso located" with respect to itheaverag-e 1engthofthew bristles' that the bristles project laterally asubstantialdistance beyond:

chains. The. bristles are then moved suocessively past. two combs, whichare continuously;-

moving: and .so :disposed as to intersect the? path.

of thebristles at-about the centerfof thebristlesz and :to: pass 1through the: bristles-in opposite di- When rections outwardly" toward".their. ends:

theflbristlesr' reachxthe point where they are to he operatedron-by--the..-comb, it is.- o-bviously neces sary; that. there-mi of thebristles which is not being-worked. on bythe comb :be tightly; clampedwith respect to the; conveyor" to -prevent theren tire-mass of bristles.fromdoeing combed '01? r the conveyor Such clamping action also-has:the

efiect of. permitting thecomb to eliminateany;

extremely short bristles, inasmuch as theends' ofthe-shortbristleswouldnot-beeengaged by the clamping devices and. hence. suchshcrthristles wouldbepulled-outof the mass-of longer bristles."

and discarded by-the com-h..-

In the clamping mechanisms heretofore utilized, the. clamping effect/onthe.-bristles was not-sufiicientlypositive to insure:that all-bristlesof. proper length i would. oe-retained on the iconveyor.

Furthermore, certain" bristle-:01" fibrous materials; particularly veryfine materials; could not be. satisfactorily combed by machines em. 0

ployingthe known clamping devices.

Accordingly it iszanobject of this-invention taprovide-an' improvedclamping; device: for: se-

curing-Jone. end. of each of a mass: Of-Lbl-iSHBSJOIi similar fibrousmaterials on aamoving. conveyorr While; the. other: end. thereof is.worked: on: by; as

tool; such 3,5113; comb:

A1 particular object. ofv this invention: is; to:

provider-an improved clampingsmechanism forr'a bristle.v combing.-machine characterized by the:

provisionof: cooperating; surfaces. of rubber: or/

flexible resilient: composition: .for effecting a; clamping action: upon.the= bristles: as: they: are":

moved through the workinggzoneof thencomb;

the: following, detailed description: of the annexedl sheet of. drawingswhich; by" way ofipre;

. ferred': example 01113 illustrate: one specific? enr- 1 bodiment of;the? inventions Ontha drawings:

Figured is anend. elevational view of. a bristle combing; machine;embodying; a clamping: device;

constructed in accordance with thiseinventiom.

Figurev 2. is a schematic; top; elevational 2 view of. the conveyor'andclamping elements of the":

machineof Figure: 1;

Figure 3.iswa vertical sectional view:takerx-along=;

EigHI'BAiis'fi? side elevational. view of 'thecomow element:

Assshown onthe drawings:

In. bristle combing; machines. of; known.- com struction, a fiexib'lexbristle:conveyor. I05 is: employed :which. may convenientlycomprise a: of spaced,flexible-.movingx conveyor: chains Wu:

andi lfl'b are separated assulficient: distance; with respect to .theavera'ge length. of ithekblist lfisii I .to. bectreated so that such":bristles; when placed.

; ture inconventionaldfashion. Thussthe (301111114? is= pivotallysecured to an" offset end" of a. crank. plate I6 which is rotated bysuitable mechamismi (notshow n). The'position of the teeth Mix: of thecomb l 4 with respect to the *bristles: is comtrolled throughout therotation of crank plate it by, a pivoted linkage? I8;-

As will: be. understood those; skilled in the art; at least: twosofsuchimovingg combs: Ware.- provided, being spaced respectively along;the length .ofxthe-zpathrof the-.:conveyor-. ID? The first comb [4 willoperate from the center of the bristles transversely out to the ends ofthe bristles past the conveyor chain Ilia while the second comb, whichhas not been shown in order to avoid complicating the drawings, willwork from the center of the bristles outwardly to the other ends thereofpast the conveyor chain lflb.

To provide a reliable clamping of the ends of the bristles while theyare being worked on by the comb, this invention provides a drum 20 whichis suitably journalled on a shaft 2| in the frame structure 12 forrotation about a horizontal axis and is disposed adjacent the path ofmovement of the comb [4. The drum 20 is laterally disposed with respectto the conveyor Iii so as to be partially lapped by one of the con veyorchains, for example the chain lflb. The other chain Illa is supportedbelow the level of chain Illb on a pulley l5. It will be understood thatan additional drum is provided at the location of the second comb andthat such second drum is of identical construction to the drum 20illustrated, but is lapped by the chain Illa.

The drum 20 is provided in its peripheral surface with an annular recess20a to receive the conveyor chain lDb therein. The depth of this recessis preferably selected so that over a portion of the drum periphery, thechain Illb will be effectively disposed below the surface of the drumand hence the fibers I carried by the conveyor chain lflb will rest uponthe drum surface adjacent the annular groove 20a. In accordance withthis invention, such adjacent drum surface is preferably formed of arubber or similar flexible resilient cohesive plastic composition by theapplication thereto of a layer of such material indicated at 22 (Figure3). While not limited thereto, satisfactory results have been obtainedby forming the band 22 of rubber of approximately 60 durometer.

To effect a clamping action upon the fibers or bristles as they passover the flexible resilient surface of the drum 20, this inventionprovides an idler belt 24 which is trained over suitable pulleys 26 and28 so as to be drawn tightly toward that portion of the drum surfacewhich is lapped by conveyor chain lflb. Thus, in effect, a clampingregion is formed between the idler belt 24 and the rubber compositionsurface 22 of the drum 28 wherein the ends of the fibers or bristles aretightly clamped. Such clamping area is indicated by the numeral 25 inFigure 3 of the drawings wherein the clamped bristles have not beenshown for purposes of clarity. It should be noted that the bristles orfibers are clamped on that portion of the drum surface which, ifextended axially would intersect a portion of the path of moving combl4.

While any desired form of guide pulley ar rangement might be utilized toefiect the positioning of idler belt 24 in clamping relationship withrespect to drum 26, this invention preferably mounts the pulley 26 forrotation on a fixed axis shaft 26a while the pulley 2B is rotated aboutan adjustable axis shaft 28a. Thus the shaft 28a upon which pulley 28 isjournalled may be mounted in the end of arm 39a of an angle bracket 30,which in turn is pivotally journalled on a horizontal pin 32. A weight34 may then be mounted upon the other arm 32b of angle bracket 32 toeffect a gravitational bias of the axis of pulley 28 in the direction toeffect the tightening of idler belt 24 against the drum surface 22.

In accordance with this invention, the idler belt 24 is also formed ofrubber or similar flexible resilient cohesive plastic composition.Again, the formation of belt 24 from rubber material of approximately 60durometer has proved to provide satisfactory performance.

With the described construction it has been found that the bristles orsimilar fibrous material are so securely clamped between the rubbersurface of drum 20 and the flexible resilient clamping belt 24 thatlittle, if any, loss of full length fibers is produced during thecombing operation. Furthermore, the combing machine embodying thisinvention has been able to satisfactorily comb the fibrous materialsthat were heretofore impossible of being combed by simple machinery.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of constructionmay be modified through a wide range without departing from theprinciples of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose tolimit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scopeof the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine for combing a mass of fibers, a moving comb, a rotatabledrum disposed adjacent the path of said comb, a flexible fiber conveyorlapping a portion of the drum surface, said conveyor being constructedand arranged to support fibers thereon in generally transverse relationto the path of movement of said conveyor and projecting laterally beyondsaid conveyor into the path of movement of said comb, a clamping belt offlexible resilient composition, and means for supporting said belt insnug overlying relationship with that portion of said conveyor lappingsaid drum, whereby the fibers are clamped between said clamping belt andsaid drum while acted on by said comb.

2. In a machine for combing a mass of fibers, a comb movable through apredetermined path, a rotatable drum. disposed adjacent the path of saidcomb said drum having a peripheral groove therein, a flexible fiberconveyor engageable in said groove and lapping a portion of the drumsurface, said conveyor being constructed and arranged to support fibersthereon in generally transverse relation to the path of movement of 7said conveyor and projecting laterally beyond said conveyor into saidpath of movement of said comb, a clamping belt of flexible resilientcomposition, and means for supporting said belt in snug overlyingrelationship with that portion of said conveyor lapping said drum,whereby the fibers are clamped between said clamping belt and saidconveyor while acted on by said comb.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein the surface of said drumcomprises a resilient plastic composition.

4. In a bristle treating machine, a conveyor chain adapted to support aplurality of bristles thereon in generally transverse relation, arotatable drum having an annular groove therein to receive said conveyorchain in partial lapping relation, whereby said chain is depressed belowthe surface of said drum and the bristles supported by the drum surfacewhile moving across the partially lapped portion of the drum, a belt offlexible resilient composition, and means for positioning said belt intight engagement with that portion of the drum surface adjacent thelapping portion of the conveyor chain, whereby the bristles are tightlyclamped between said drum and belt and moved across the chain lappedportion of the drum.

5. In a bristle treating machine, a flexible conveyor chain adapted tosupport a plurality of bristles thereon in generally transverse relationwith said bristles projecting ltaerally beyond said chain, a rotatabledrum having an annular groove therein to receive said conveyor chain inpartial lapping relation, whereby said chain is depressed below thesurface of said drum and the bristles supported by the drum surface asthey move across the chain lapped portion of the drum, the drum. surfacebeingformed of resilient material, an idler belt of resilientcomposition, and pulley means for positioningisaid belt in tightengagement with that portion of the drum surface adjacent the lappingportion of the conveyor chain, whereby the bristles are tightly clampedbetween said resilient drum surface and said resilient belt and movedacross the chain lapped portion thereof.

6. In a machine for combing fibers, a rotatably mounted drum. having acushioned surface provided with an annular groove, a conveyor chainhaving a run thereof arranged and guided for reception in said groove tolap a portion of said and align said fibers and comb out shortinsecurely held fibers.

CHARLES F. WERKHEISER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,155,730 Hollier Oct. 5, 19151,314,100 Villamor Aug. 26, 1919 1,418,493 Stenger June 6, 19221,782,918 Erb Nov. 25, 1930

